Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Section One: What is Biodiversity?
Four intriguing and scientific activities invite learners to explore the natural resources of their town. The activities cover concepts such as genetic traits, organizing species in a taxonomy, the differences between different species...
California Academy of Science
Which Way is North?
Who needs a compass to find cardinal directions? Just place a stick in the ground and record the movement of its shadow over the course of a day. Then, measure the shadow lengths in order to determine a north-south line. A simple...
Statistics Education Web
It Creeps. It Crawls. Watch Out For The Blob!
How do you find the area of an irregular shape? Class members calculate the area of an irregular shape by finding the area of a random sampling of the shape. Individuals then utilize a confidence interval to improve accuracy and use a...
Curated OER
Chart the Stars
Seventh graders find constellation distances and plot the stars. In this star lesson plan, 7th graders plot the star points for Canis Major. Students use graphing calculators to graph the constellation. Students choose another...
Curated OER
Back to the Past
What was the Untied States like in 1938? What were the concerns of Americans in the post World War I era? What were their fears? What were their sources of news and entertainment? To understand the reaction to Orson Welles' radio...
Curated OER
The Life of Harriet Tubman
A well-designed lesson teaches about the history of Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad, and the issues of civil liberties. Young historians watch a video, access Internet resources, and engage in cooperative activities which should...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 12
Class members compare the final 30 minutes of Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope with Act V of Doescher's play, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope and consider how the choice of media influences viewers' impression...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 4
Class members have an opportunity to compare how a film and a play handle the same source material by viewing the opening chapters of George Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope and acts I and II of Ian Doescher's play, William...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Days 8 and 9
How does an author's choice of artistic medium influence an audience? What about how an author chooses to transform original source material? These are the questions class members grapple with as they compare scenes from episode IV...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Dealing with Peer Influence: What Are Bullying and Harassment?
Scholars examine examples of peer pressure and discuss how specific actions negatively affect one's well-being. Learners gather in small groups to write two scenarios in which peer pressure is used. They reference the STAR method in how...
Missouri Department of Elementary
“Re-Solutioning”: Practice Brings Out Our Best
Seventh graders create and perform a skit that demonstrates their conflict resolution skills. They begin by examining the process of crafting a performance and review what they have learned about conflict resolution. Next, they...
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
A lot of secrecy shrouded the creation of the atomic bomb. Readers uncover some of that secrecy using an educator's guide for the novel The Green Glass Sea. Three weeks of lesson plans feature discussion questions and reading...
BBC
Lug and the Giant Stork - Capital Letters
Capital letters are the star of the show in a wonderful language arts lesson. After a teacher-led demonstration and discussion on capital letters, groups of pupils get together and work on the computer to fix the flashing letters that...
Harper Collins
Parrot in the Oven: Response Journal
After completing Chapter 5 of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, readers make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections to Victor Martinez's novel by crafting journal entries addressing comments and questions to characters in...
Curated OER
Number Patterns
An easy way to introduce numerical patterns, these activities can be made simpler by using addition, or more difficult with division, fractions, and percentages. Children examine patterns and determine the missing number in the sequence....
Journey Through the Universe
Where to Look For Life?
Every year we discover new planets including more than 1,000 in 2016 alone. Will we ever find life on another planet? The instructional activity includes two activities to help scholars understand this concept. First, they analyze the...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Acting Out Respect
Bert and Ernie, Lucy and Ethel ... what makes a great friend? Pupils first learn about the STAR method of problem solving: Stop, Think, Act, Review. Small groups then role play various scenarios to demonstrate respect and compromise in...
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to the Works of John Green
The novels of John Green cover the gamut of teenager emotions. A guide to his works provides classroom lesson plans for the novels Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, The Fault in Our Stars, and Paper Towns. Each lesson...
Curated OER
Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One...
Explore language arts by reading two similar stories in order to compare and contrast them in class. Young readers read two Aunt Isabel books, by Kate Duke, and discuss the main characters, plot, and setting. They complete a graphic...
Curated OER
I'm A Star!
Fourth graders answer questions about being responsible community member. They listen and brainstorm ideas of why it important to be responsible community members. Students are given a copy of "I'm A Star Community Member" game...
Curated OER
The Problem Solving Game
Fifth graders identify the steps to problem solving: STAR (Stop, Think, Act, and Review) and how the steps relate to resolving problems and conflicts. They are told that they are an employee at a game factory. Students are told that they...
Curated OER
The Counting Caterpillar
A daily counting routine builds a caterpillar with 100 body segments (marked with symbols to indicate 2s, 5s, and 10s) by the 100th day of school. Provides structured repetition as part of the morning routine so that by 100th day,...
Curated OER
The Universe
Learners recognize that the stages of evolution a star goes through are determined by the size of the star. They conduct research to draw a set of diagrams illustrating the stages in the evolution of three sizes of stars.
Curated OER
Reach for the Stars
Learners investigate the Underground Railroad. In this slavery lesson, students read books about slavery, the Undeground Railroad, and how slaves escaped the south. Learners develop knowledge about coded songs and constellations that...